Thea Energy has raised an oversubscribed $100 million Series B led by the US Innovative Technology Fund, the fusion startup told TechCrunch. This amount would make the company one of the better-funded fusion startups and increase its chances of making a commercial reactor a reality.
The new funding will help Thea expand production of its uniquely designed miniature magnets and begin construction of Eos, a “power plant-related” demonstration device, next year. Thea previously closed a $20 million Series A in early 2024. This new round brings total private investment to $130 million, Thea told TechCrunch.
Magnets are at the heart of many fusion power plant designs. The magnet compresses a superheated material called plasma, keeping it hot enough to fuse atoms, releasing heat and energy. But Thea’s magnet is different. Each rectangular magnet can be adjusted to create the shape of the magnetic field throughout the reactor. Thea likens them to pixels on a computer monitor. The pixels collectively follow the instructions of the software to create the text and images you see on your monitor.
That flexibility is important to Thea. The type of reactor the company is designing is known as a Stellarator. Stellarators can keep plasma in a very stable configuration, but to do so they must twist and bend to accommodate the plasma. This is in contrast to tokamaks, another major magnetic design, which use more powerful forces to keep plasma confined.
However, the irregular shape of the stellarator increases the complexity and cost of magnet manufacturing. By wrapping a nuclear reactor’s core with dozens of ordinary magnets, Sheer is betting that he can use software to control small, rotatable magnets to create a stellarator-like magnetic field inside a much simpler physical structure.
The software also helps in assembling the reactor. Thea intentionally installed the test magnets in a misaligned position, but the software was able to compensate for that.
Thea hopes to complete the Eos demonstration reactor in 2030 and have a commercial version, known as Helios, operational in 2034. The timing aligns with competitors like Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which wants to start operating arc furnaces in Virginia in the early 2030s.
If Thea’s pixel-inspired magnets work, the company could enjoy manufacturing advantages. The startup built dozens of iterations of the full-size magnet in its Jersey City lab. Meanwhile, other fusion startups pursuing magnetic confinement have had to build large assembly halls to manufacture reactor-scale magnets.
However, not everything can be lifted with just a small magnet. Thea uses 12 magnets of four different shapes outside a planar coil to handle most of the plasma confinement. More than 300 small magnets help fine-tune the plasma. Relying on larger magnets erodes some of the company’s manufacturing advantages.
Still, simplifying fusion reactors, which are already some of the most complex devices ever created by humans, could help pave the way for fusion power. An extra $100 million doesn’t hurt either.
Other investors participating in the round include General Innovation Capital Partners, Linse Capital, Calm Ventures, Climate Capital, Divergent Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures, Gainels, Idemitsu Kosan, Overlay Capital, Timescale Ventures, and What If Ventures.
Update: Thea’s initial design called for the use of 12 surrounding magnets. These were not added to later versions.
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